Trupti Desai

Last updated

Trupti Desai
Born (1985-12-12) December 12, 1985 (age 37)
Nipani, Karnataka, Indian
Occupation Social activist
Known forFounder the Bhumata Brigade & Bhumata Foundation
Spouse
Prashant Desai
​
(m. 2006)​
Children1

Trupti Desai (born 1985) is an Indian social activist and the founder of the Bhumata Brigade & Bhumata Foundation, a Pune-based organization. Desai has campaigned for allowing women to religious places like the Shani Shingnapur Temple, the Haji Ali Dargah, the Mahalakshmi Temple, and the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, all in Maharashtra, and most recently the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. In 2012, she was an Indian National Congress candidate for the Pune Municipal Corporation elections. In 2021, she participated in Bigg Boss Marathi 3 as a contestant and evicted on Day 49.

Contents

Personal life

Desai was born in Nipani taluka in the Indian state of Karnataka on December 12, 1985. [1] [2] Her father left the family for an ashram and she was raised with her two siblings by her mother. [3] She studied home science at the Pune campus of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University but discontinued after first year due to family problems. [4]

Desai has been married since 2006 and has one son. Her husband Prashant claims that she is "extremely spiritual" and is follower of Gagangiri Maharaj of Kolhapur. [5]

Activities

In 2003, Desai was a social worker with Krantiveer Jhopdi Vikas Sangh to help rehabilitate slum dwellers. [1] From 2007 to 2009, Desai staged protests against the financial irregularities at the Ajit Cooperative Bank involving a fraud of ₹50 crore (US$6.3 million). In January 2009, she led a group against then deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar. An arrest warrant was issued against her in 2013 for heading the group that allegedly "slapped the effigy of Pawar, used abusive language and held an illegal agitation despite prohibitory orders". [6] Desai was immediately released on bail, claiming that the arrest was just a tactic to stop activists from protesting. [6] She founded the Bhumata Brigade on 27 September 2010. Since its founding, the brigade has grown from 400 to 5,000 registered members as of January 2016. [1] In 2011, she also participated in the anti-corruption movement. [7] She contested the 2012 elections for the Pune Municipal Corporation from Balaji Nagar ward as a member of Indian National Congress; but lost. [7]

Religious places

In November 2015, a woman entered the Hindu shrine of Shani Shingnapur Temple, where women were not allowed. The priests of the temple suspended the security guard on duty at the time and carried out a cleansing ceremony of the idol. This agitated Desai, who along with other members of her brigade staged various forced entries into the shrine. The state government and the district level court of Pune directed the temple officials to allow women in the shrine based on their constitutional rights. On 8 April 2016, the day celebrated as Gudi Padwa—the new year day of the Maharashtrian calendar—Desai along with other female members of the Brigade entered the shrine of Shani Shingnapur Temple. [3]

Post Shingnapur entry, Desai reached the Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhapur where the temple management committee allowed her entry but the priests became violent against her. [3] Five priests were arrested for attacking Desai and the protestors. [8] She also entered the inner sanctum of the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple near Nashik where she was peacefully escorted by the police, but only with wet clothes similar to how the temple allows men. [3]

In April 2016, she made an attempt to enter the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai; however, an angry mob made it unsuccessful. Desai claimed that she received a death threat if she again tried to enter the dargah—a type of Islamic shrine. [9] On 12 May 2016, she made a second attempt and entered the mosque under tight security but not in the inner sanctum where women are not allowed. [10]

In November 2018, she made an unsuccessful attempt to visit the Sabarimala temple in Kerala during the Mandalam-Makaravilakk pilgrim season. The temple had legal as well as religious restrictions that prevented the entry of women of menstruating age (approx. 10–50 years) since 1991 which was overturned through a verdict by the Supreme Court of India in October 2018. Even though a dozen women of menstruating age had attempted to visit the temple after the verdict came, all of them proved unsuccessful largely due to protests. [11] Desai was also blocked by protesters at Cochin International Airport on 16 November 2018, while on her journey to Sabarimala. She decided to return after getting stranded inside the airport for more than 14 hours and vowed to come back again. She did not. [12]

Reality Shows

YearNameRoleNotes
2021 Bigg Boss Marathi 3 ContestantEvicted
Day 49

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haji Ali Dargah</span> Dargah in India

The Haji Ali Dargah is a mosque and dargah or the monument of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari located on an islet off the coast of Worli in the southern Mumbai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabarimala Temple</span> Hindu temple in Kerala, India

The Sabarimala Sree Ayyappan Temple is a temple complex located on the Sabarimala hill inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Ranni-Perunad Village, Ranni Taluk, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world, with an estimate of over 10 to 15 million devotees visiting every year. The temple is dedicated to a Hindu Brahmachari (celibate) deity named Ayyappan also known as Dharma Shasta, who, according to one belief, is the son of Shiva and Vishnu. Sabarimala Temple exemplifies the convergence of diverse religions in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chottanikkara Temple</span> Bhagavathi temple in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India

The Chottanikkara Devi Temple is a temple dedicated to the Hindu mother goddess Bhagavati, a form of Mahalakshmi.She is believed to be residing in Chottanikkara along with her husband Maha Vishnu. The temple is located at Chottanikkara, a southern suburb of the city of Kochi in Ernakulam district, in the state of Kerala, India and is one of the most popular temples in the state. The temple is also known for conducting exorcism.

Suhasini Raj is a journalist based in India. At Cobrapost she conducted Operation Duryodhana, aired on Aaj Tak news channel in India on 12 December 2005, wherein she bribed eleven members of the Indian Parliament to ask questions in Parliament that were ostensibly meant to be lobbying for small scale industries.. Currently she works with the south Asia bureau of The New York Times in Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandwad</span> Town in Maharashtra, India

Chandwad (IPA:Cāndavaḍa) is a town located in the Nashik district in Maharashtra. It is 250 km from Mumbai. The 11th-century Jain Caves, Renuka devi mandir, Chandreshwar temple and Rangmahal are in Chandwad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindu pilgrimage sites in India</span>

In Hinduism, the yatra (pilgrimage) to the tirthas has special significance for earning the punya needed to attain the moksha (salvation) by performing the darśana, the parikrama (circumambulation), the yajna, the Dhyana, the puja (worship), the prarthana, the dakshina, the seva, the bhandara, etc. These sacred places are usually located on the banks of sacred waters, such as sacred rivers or their tributaries, the kundas, the ghats, or the stepwells, or the temple tanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Maharashtra</span>

Maharashtra attracts tourists from other Indian states and foreign countries. It was the second most visited Indian state by foreigners and fifth most visited state by domestic tourists in the country in 2021. Ch. Sambhajinagar

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shani Shingnapur</span> Village in Maharashtra

Shani Shingnapur or Shani Shinganapur or Shingnapur is a village in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated in Nevasa taluka in Ahmednagar district, the village is known for its popular temple of Shani, the Hindu god associated with the planet (graha) Saturn. Shingnapur is 35km from Ahmednagar city. Shani Shingnapur Devsthan Trust ,Shani Shingnapur is registered under Mumbai Public Trust act.

Religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajmer Sharif Dargah</span> Sufi tomb of Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

Ajmer Sharif Dargah is a Sufi tomb (dargah) of the revered Sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti, located at Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The shrine has Chishti's grave (Maqbara).

Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan or BMMA is an autonomous, secular, rights-based mass organization led by Zakia Soman which fights for the citizenship rights of the Muslim women in India. The BMMA was formed in January 2011. The organisation is based in Mumbai.

Rahul Easwar is an Indian political commentator and author from Kerala.

The Bhumata Brigade is a Pune-based social activist organization founded in 2010 in the state of Maharashtra, India, dedicated to fighting against injustice to women and against corruption. The organization's founder is Indian gender equality activist Trupti Desai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishvanatha Temple, Khajuraho</span>

The Vishvanatha Temple is a Hindu temple in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located among the western group of Khajuraho Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The temple is dedicated to Shiva, who is also known as "Vishvanatha", meaning "Lord of the Universe".

The Ready To Wait campaign is a social movement initiated in September 2016 by a group of female devotees of Hindu deity Ayyappan, as a response to a petition filed in the Supreme Court by women's groups to demand the right to enter the Sabarimala temple, located in the southern Indian state of Kerala, which traditionally restricts entry of women of reproductive age. The campaigners of "Ready To Wait" asserted their willingness to respect the traditions regarding entry to the Sabarimala temple. It started as a social media campaign with the hashtag #ReadyToWait and soon gained momentum as Hindu women from all over the country took to social media to show their support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entry of women to Sabarimala</span> Dispute involving a temple in Kerala, India

Sabarimala is a temple dedicated to Shasta in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. Women and girls of reproductive age were traditionally not permitted to worship there, as Shasta is a celibate deity. A Kerala high court provided a legal justification for this tradition, and from 1991 on, women and girls were legally forbidden to enter the temple.Women and girls of reproductive age were traditionally not permitted to worship there, as Shasta is a celibate deity.

Happy To Bleed is a social movement to counter menstrual taboos and stigma in India. It was initiated by Nikita Azad, a women's rights activist and an undergraduate student of English honors at Government College Girls, Punjabi University, Patiala,. Azad's real name is Nikita Arora, who is a Rhodes Scholar for 2018-2020 at the University of Oxford, UK where she will read for the MSt in Women's Studies (2019) and the MSc in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology (2020).

Rehana Fathima, also known as Suryagayathri, is an Indian women’s rights activist from Kerala.

Bindu Ammini is an Indian lawyer and lecturer at Government Law College, Kozhikode, and a Dalit activist. She is one of the two first women between the age of 10 and 50 to enter the Sabarimala Temple after a Supreme Court of India decision allowed women of reproductive age to enter the temple.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Goyal, Prateek (30 January 2016). "Meet Bhumata Brigade's Trupti Desai: Devout Hindu, aggressive activist". The News Minute. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. ↑ Biographia (24 October 2018). "Trupti Desai Wiki-Age-Height-Husband-Controversies and More". Biographia. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Anand, Geeta; Raj, Suhasini (29 April 2016). "Forging a Path for Women, Deep Into India's Sacred Shrines". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Shani Shingnapur temple entry ban row: Who is Bhumata Ranragini Brigade's chief Trupti Desai?". Zee News . 26 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Alexander, Sneha (17 November 2018). "Janam TV Peddles Fake News Of Trupti Desai Converting To Christianity | BOOM". boomlive.in. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  6. 1 2 Chavan, Vijay (3 October 2013). "Activist gets arrest warrant 4.5 years after FIR is filed". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  7. 1 2 Joshi, Yogesh (29 January 2016). "Trupti Desai: The woman spearheading Shani Shingnapur protest". Hindustan Times . Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Waghmode, Vivek (17 April 2016). "5 priests among 7 booked for assaulting Trupti Desai". Times of India. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Hebbar, Prajakta (29 April 2016). "Trupti Desai Claims There's A Bounty Of ₹1 Lakh To Stop Her From Entering Haji Ali". The Huffington Post . Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Activist Trupti Desai enters Haji Ali, stops short of going into inner sanctum". The Times of India. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  11. ↑ "Social activist Trupti Desai to visit Sabarimala during Mandalam month". Mathrubhumi.
  12. ↑ "Trupti Desai heads back home after protesters bloch her Sabarimala trek, says "will certainly return"". news18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.